The Death of a Friend
by The Bard2
Summary: Dawn has a date planned, but something bad happens


Title - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer - The Death of a Friend.  
  
Author - Shane A. Hopkins (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com).  
  
Rating - Parental Guidance Recommended.  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
Authors Note - This is a piece of emotion-fic, that is there is no action and it deals with the emotions of a character, in this case Dawn.  
  
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The Death of a Friend.  
  
Dawn sat in her room, it was her mother's birthday, or at least it would have been. She realised that she had been missing something since her mother had . had . she couldn't even think the words. Her sister had been raised from the dead recently and she didn't seem to be quite herself.  
  
"Dawn, there's a phone call for you!" cam Buffy's voice from downstairs.  
  
Dawn hadn't even heard the phone, "Be there in a sec."  
  
She got up from the chair she was in and walked sullenly down the stairs.  
  
"Hello?" Dawn said into the phone.  
  
"Hey, Dawn, it's Jim, you doin' anything?" came the voice from the handset.  
  
"Nuttin." Dawn answered, she had unbeknownst to her added a slightly sultry lilt to her voice, "You?"  
  
"We were thinking of hanging out at the mall." Jim said, "You wanna come?"  
  
"Yea sure, I'll clear it with Buffy." Dawn told him.  
  
"Ok, see you soon." Jim said.  
  
"Yea, see you too." Dawn said before she hung up, "Buffy, can I go out to the mall?"  
  
"You'll be back before dinner?" Buffy called back.  
  
"Yea." Dawn called back, she was already pulling on her coat and getting ready to leave.  
  
"Ok, but be careful." Buffy said.  
  
"Sure, see ya." dawn said walking out the door.  
  
Three hours later Dawn came home to find Buffy getting dinner ready.  
  
"How was the mall?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Boring, and Steve didn't show." Dawn answered, regretting it almost as soon as she had said it.  
  
"Who's Steve?" Buffy asked.  
  
"A guy from school." Dawn had a huge crush on him but she really didn't want to get into THAT discussion right now.  
  
Buffy seemed to sense that and dropped the topic, "Well dinner will be ready in a few minutes."  
  
"Ok, I'll be watching TV." Dawn said as she walked into the living room and slumped down on the couch.  
  
She was just about to turn on the TV when the phone rang. Dawn jumped up and rushed to answer it.  
  
"Summer's residence?" Dawn always seemed to make it sound like a question.  
  
"Dawn, it's Jim." came Jim's voice from the receiver.  
  
"So, what ya doing? " Dawn asked him.  
  
Jim paused and Dawn could almost hear him thinking about how to word something.  
  
"Jim, what is it?" she prodded.  
  
"It's Steve, he . he was in an accident." he said.  
  
Dawn felt the breath leave her, "I-is he alight?"  
  
"Dawn, I'm so sorry but . " Jim began but was interrupted by Dawn's scream.  
  
Buffy came running from the kitchen just in time to take Dawn in her arms, she picked up the phone and said into it, "She'll call you back."  
  
Dawn was sobbing uncontrollably.  
  
"Dawn what is it? What happened?" Buffy asked.  
  
"S-S-Steve h-he was in a-a-an accident." Dawn sobbed.  
  
Buffy realised that her state meant that Dawn had strong feelings for the guy Steve, and that Steve was very likely badly injured or, in the worst case, dead.  
  
"Ssshhhh, it'll be ok." Buffy suddenly realised that she was crying along with Dawn, she didn't know this Steve she didn't really approve of the people her sister had been hanging round, "It must be because Dawn is in pain and I can't stand that." she thought.  
  
"B-B-Buffy?" Dawn's sobbing had calmed down a bit.  
  
"Mmm." Buffy didn't quite trust her voice.  
  
"W-why does almost everyone I like have to die?" she looked up at her older sister with tears streaming down her cheeks.  
  
Buffy couldn't answer. She had no answers for Dawn. She had to find some. She had to help her sister. 


End file.
